[Bug 1753333] Re: Using "Software and Updates -> Additional Drivers" to Switch Fails

[Brian Murray]

Hello Chris, or anyone else affected,

Accepted software-properties into bionic-proposed. The package will
build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source
/software-properties/0.96.24.32.2 in a few hours, and then in the
-proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package.  See
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how
to enable and use -proposed.Your feedback will aid us getting this
update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug,
mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from
verification-needed-bionic to verification-done-bionic. If it does not
fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the
tag to verification-failed-bionic. In either case, without details of
your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification .  Thank you in
advance!

** Changed in: software-properties (Ubuntu Bionic)
       Status: New => Fix Committed

** Tags added: verification-needed verification-needed-bionic

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1753333

Title:
  Using "Software and Updates -> Additional Drivers" to Switch Fails

Status in software-properties package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress
Status in software-properties source package in Bionic:
  Fix Committed

Bug description:
  SRU Request:

  [Impact]
  Currently, the Additional Drivers tool uninstalls only the driver package that ships the modaliases. When it comes to the NVIDIA drivers (>=390), that package is only a meta-package. Removing the meta-package will not uninstall the driver.

  We should make sure to uninstall all its nvidia related dependencies,
  not only the meta-package.

  [Test Case]
  1) Open the "Software & Updates" app, and select the "Additional Drivers" tab

  2) Uninstall the NVIDIA 390 driver

  3) Check that, for example, the nvidia-dkms-390 package was
  uninstalled:

  apt-cache policy nvidia-dkms-390

  The package will be reported as installed, because the current code
  didn't remove it.

  [Regression Potential]
  Relatively low, as the change in behaviour only affects the nvidia driver, and it only causes the Additional Drivers tool to remove dependencies of the meta-package that have the "nvidia" string in their name.

  __________________
  When you are in the initial install state, you can easily switch from the Nouvea drivers to the Nvidia drivers by choosing the option in "Software and Updates -> Additional Drivers".  However, when you attempt to switch back (by selecting the nouveau option and clicking Apply), and subsequently reboot, your system will still come up using the Nvidia drivers, and you will WTF.

  And then, if you visit Additional Drivers, you will be presented with
  grayed out options for both nvidia and nouvea, and the only selectable
  option will be "continue using manually installed driver".

  The reason for this is that the tool, when reselecting nvidia in the
  GUI, uninstalls the nvidia-drivers-390 package, but because it's a
  metapackage (or at least I presume this is the reason), it doesn't
  uninstall its dependencies, which causes the Additional Drivers tool
  to believe it's in a non-automanaged state, and the nvidia drivers
  never actually get uninstalled.

  You can fix it by doing an apt autoremove and rerunning the Additional
  Drivers tool.  But obviously there is no real way for inexperienced
  users to know this.

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